


The Thin Man takes the path of peace

by InfinityUndone



Series: Breaking the vicious cycle [2]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Humor, Bittersweet Ending, Crack Treated Seriously, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Heartwarming, Humor, Little Nightmares II Spoilers, Not Canon Compliant, Time Loop, i just want them to get a happy ending okay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29467470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfinityUndone/pseuds/InfinityUndone
Summary: The Thin Man's plan was perfect. He would get his revenge on Six as soon as that door opened...And then he realized it was actually a terrible plan.(I wrote this because I refuse to accept Mono's fate. It deals heavily with the stable time-loop theory for the ending of Little Nightmares II, so maybe check that out first.)
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Series: Breaking the vicious cycle [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178021
Comments: 7
Kudos: 274





	The Thin Man takes the path of peace

**Author's Note:**

> Me @ Tarsier Studios: I reject your canon, and substitute my own!  
> Tarsier: Denial is the first stage of grief.  
> Me: What's that? I can't hear you over all the fix-it fics I'm writing!\
> 
> [Edited 2/22/2021 after my decision to make this into a series. Just a minor change to make this work with Ex-best friends, as this was written first]

He’d been there for so long, longer than he could even fathom. Sitting on the chair, staring at the closed door in front of him. Nothing he did would open it.

Sitting alone for so long, he had a lot of time to think. First, terror had occupied his thoughts. Then anger. Then boredom. Then anger again.

It was _her_ fault. Six. His memories were warped and fading, but he remembered everything about her. How he’d gone through so much to help her, fought tooth and nail to save her, and for what? She let go and left him to die. Well, death would’ve been kinder than this long, long existence.

He knew that the younger version of himself, the idealistic idiot with a ridiculous paper bag on his head, would eventually open the door. And when that happened, he would take his revenge. Six couldn’t drop him if there was no Six, right?

Content with this plan, he waited. And some time later, another thought occurred to him.

_“Wait. Is this a stable time loop?”_

Thinking about it more, he realized it had to be. How else would his younger self free him from his prison?

_“But… but that means…”_

Getting up from his chair, he began to pace around the room.

_“If this is a stable time loop… that means that Six will drop me no matter what… but why did she drop me? Was it because…”_

The flaws of his original plan of revenge were starting to show. If Six dropped his past self because of his plan to torture her into becoming a monster, then that meant this was a stable time loop.

_“Damn. This was a terrible plan. Glad I realized it in time.”_ he thought.

But now, he needed a new plan. Sitting back down on the chair, he returned to his thinking.

Eventually, he came up with one. And after making a quick stop at an old friends place, he returned to his room and waited for the door to open.

* * *

“Mono! What happened?!” Six exclaimed, staring in terror at the staticky and glitching tv screen.

Mono was huddled on the ground, his ears ringing with static. “Six… I think I screwed up…”

A pair of hands appeared on the other side of the screen. Six jumped.

“I let him out…” Mono groaned.

“Who?!”

“I don’t know… someone I shouldn’t have…”

The air around them seemed to burst into static, and everything slowed down. The Thin Man’s head and shoulders emerged from the tv screen.

“Run!” Six hissed, and Mono stumbled to his feet and sprinted down the hallway in slow-motion behind her. The Thin Man walked behind them.

They rushed into the bedroom. Mono slid under the bed, Six huddled under a table. The Thin Man slowly ducked under the doorframe and stood there ominously.

There she was. The one who did this to him. For a moment, the Thin Man was about to return to his original plan of vengeance. But then, he saw his old self, the child with the paper bag hat, and remembered those days, how he would go through hell and back to save Six… and how that led to his current state.

**“Come out.”** He said. Mono and Six didn’t move a muscle, and he realized how that was one of the least friendly-sounding things he could say.

**“I will not hurt you. I just want to talk.”** Speech was hard after so many years of not doing it.

Mono bravely called out “How do we know? You could be lying!” Six made a motion for him to shut up.

The Thin Man sighed irritably, causing a blast of static to assault Mono and Six’s ears. **“Look, I’m not your enemy. If I was, I would’ve grabbed Six already.”** Six flinched as he gestured to her.

“Well… what do you want to talk about?” Mono asked.

**“A lot of things. I was alone for so long, you see. But most importantly, I know how to shut down the Signal Tower.”**

A long moment of silence followed, and then Mono stepped out from under the bed, despite Six’s frantic objections.

“Fine. Let’s talk.” Mono told him.

**“Good. May we return to the room with the chairs?”**

Six stepped out then. “No way! I’m not going anywhere near that tv! If you want to talk to us, you can do it here!”

**“Very well.”**

Six insisted on her and Mono staying next to the doorway, while the Thin Man sat down on the dusty bed. Her protectiveness would’ve been endearing to him, if he hadn’t known she would throw it out the first opportunity she got.

Reminding himself that he wasn’t going to kill her, the Thin Man started the conversation with **“So… there’s something you should know. My name is Mono.”**

Mono gasped. “Whoa! You have the same name as me!”

Wow, he’d been dense as a child. **“I** **_am_ ** **you!”**

“What? How is that possible?” Six asked.

**“I am the future version of Mono. I was trapped behind that doorway in the tv, waiting for my younger self to open it. I believe we are in a stable time loop, where Mono frees me, leading to the events that led to him becoming trapped in the tv in the first place.”**

Six and Mono pondered this. “Okay… but how do we know you’re telling the truth about being me?” Mono said.

The Thin Man began dredging as much out of his fractured memories as he could. **“You are currently ten years old. You can’t read or swim. You found that paper bag on your head shortly before you went to the forest. It was in a dumpster behind an abandoned grocery store. You and Six met when you broke through the Hunter’s door with an axe. You killed the Hunter with his own rifle, and you killed the Doctor by trapping him in a furnace. And… you hate candy, but you love chocolate.”**

“Wow.” Mono said, impressed. “All of that was right!”

“But we still don’t know if he really is you.” Six interjected. “He could’ve been spying on us to get all that information.”

Another idea flew into the Thin Man’s head. **“Here. Maybe this will convince you.”** He rolled up his left-hand sleeve to reveal a birthmark in the shape of a rat’s head. It was barely noticeable against his dark, dark gray skin, but it was visible.

Mono gasped and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a matching birthmark on his own arm. “Six, he’s telling the truth! I know it!”

Six still didn’t look convinced, but she went along with it.

“You say you think we’re in a time loop? How did you figure that out?” Mono asked.

The Thin Man launched into an explanation. **“I remember being young, opening that door in the tv and all that happened afterwards. When I was trapped in that room, waiting for you to let me out, I came up with a plan of revenge… and then I realized following through with that plan was probably what led to my younger self getting trapped to begin with. Then I decided it was a terrible plan and changed it, which is why we’re talking now.”**

“What was your original plan?”

**“It involved revenge on the one who got me trapped.”** The Thin Man looked at Six.

“Me?” Six exclaimed. 

“What are you talking about? Six would never hurt me… right?” Mono looked uncertainly at Six.

**“There were some… strange circumstances. Perhaps it is easiest to show you. May we return to that tv?”**

Six and Mono hesitantly agreed, and they returned to the tv room.

“Um, would it be possible to speed things up a bit?” Mono asked. The Thin Man looked down to see the kids were still stuck in slow motion. 

**“I don’t know how to turn that off. Sorry.”**

They got back to the tv, and the Thin Man started fiddling with it. Six and Mono held back near the doorway just in case.

**“There. Come watch.”**

The screen turned on, and Mono and Six watched the images on it in fascination.

“What is this?” Mono asked.

**“My memories of what happened.”**

They watched as Six was taken by the Thin Man on the screen, and then it fast-forwarded to Mono destroying the Thin Man and entering the Signal Tower.

“That’s what the inside of it looks like?” Six whispered.

**“It takes many forms, as you will see later.”**

When the monstrous, distorted Six appeared on screen, the two children gasped.

“...Is that me? That’s what you were gonna do to me?” Six said in fear. She would’ve bolted from the room if not for Mono clutching her hand.

**“Yes. Thankfully, I realized it would lead to a vicious cycle of events. I have no intention of harming you.”**

“But why? Why would you do that to her? She was your friend! She _is_ my friend!” Mono exclaimed.

**“...You’ll see.”**

The three of them watched as Six was returned to normal, and the Signal Tower began to collapse. Mono and Six blanched when they saw the disgusting masses of flesh and eyes exploding from the walls.

And then came the climactic scene. Mono jumped, Six grabbed his hand, and she didn’t pull him up. The Thin Man had replayed this scene in his head countless times, but the emotions he felt when he watched his younger self plunge into the fleshy abyss were just as strong as when he’d first felt them.

Mono and Six were watching in shocked silence as the Mono on the screen landed, sat down on that accursed chair, and it turned into the room he’d spent far too long in.

**“After that, there’s a whole lot of nothing.”** The Thin Man said as he turned off the tv. **“I sat there for longer than anyone can imagine and became what I am today. And then I came up with a plan for revenge on Six, to hopefully prevent my fate, but then I realized the stable time-loop thing, so I decided to just talk to the two of you instead.”**

“Six dropped me?” Mono whispered in complete devastation.

“I dropped him?” Six whispered in the exact same tone of voice.

“No, no! I bet my hand just slipped!” Mono said quickly.

**“It did not. She let go on purpose.”**

“Uh, well, maybe she was gonna fall, because I was dragging her down, and she let go on instinct!”

**“No.”**

“How do you know?!”

**“I just do.”**

“That’s not an answer!”

**“Yes, it is. It’s my memories, after all.”**

“H-hold on for a second.” Six said quietly after a moment. “If you’re right and this is a stable time-loop, doesn’t that mean that Mono becomes you no matter what? Because, you’re still here, and talking to us, but shouldn’t the timeline have been broken the second you didn’t kidnap me?”

“Auugh! My brain hurts!” Mono exclaimed.

**“I don’t know. What I do know is, if I have a chance to change it, I will.”**

“But if you succeed, what’ll happen to you? Will you disappear, or die, or what?” Mono asked.

**“I don’t know. But whatever happens, I’m alright with, as long as I succeed and you don’t become me.”**

“Okay… but you said you have a way to stop the Signal Tower. How?”

**“You already have some degree of control over it, you just don’t know it. With our powers combined, we can not only stop it, we can destroy it for good.”**

“...Six? What do you think?” Mono asked.

Six looked wearily at them. “...I still don’t think we can trust him. But I think this is our best chance to stop the transmissions. And… I don’t know why I let you fall… but I don’t want it to happen.”

**“Good, so we’re in agreement.”** The Thin Man clasped his hands together, relieved that the end was in sight. **“Let’s go there now. I can travel us through the tv.”**

Seeing Six’s uncomfortable look at the suggestion, Mono said “Can we just walk? Tv travel looks really unpleasant.”

**“...Fine, but it’ll take a while, and I’m not carrying either of you.”**

* * *

Sometime later, they stood outside the Signal Tower. Mono and Six marveled at it’s immense size.

“It’s even taller close up.” Mono said in awe.

**“Alright. It’s time. Six, maybe you should stand back.”** The Thin Man said.

Six sheltered herself behind a nearby dumpster.

**“Mono, take off that ridiculous paper bag. It doesn’t look as cool as you think it does.”**

“It doesn’t?” Mono reluctantly pulled the bag off his head.

**“Okay. It’s just like all those times you tuned the tv. Except this time, you’re trying to do the opposite. You’re trying to** **_untune_ ** **it.”**

“Yeah, I got it. Ready?”

**“On three. On, two, three,** **_go!”_ **

Mono and the Thin Man activated their powers. The air around them seemed to screech with static and the falling rain slowed to a crawl. Six covered her ears.

_“Nrrrrgh! It’s… harder than I thought it’d be!_ ” Mono strained.

**_“The Tower is fighting back! Keep at it!”_ **The Thin Man pulled down even harder.

The Tower was showing visible signs of distortion, but instead of buckling like a regular building would, it seemed to be bursting, with disgusting masses of flesh emerging from the broken parts.

**_“We’re damaging it! Don’t stop!”_ **

Six looked around and saw the various tv’s were starting to lose signal. 

_“W-we’ve almost got it!”_ Sweat was pouring down Mono’s face.

With one final pull from Mono and the Thin Man, the Signal Tower crumpled completely. It fell not into rubble, but a pile of warped flesh.

Mono and the Thin Man fell to their knees.

“We… did it…” Mono gasped out.

**“Finally… it’s gone.”**

Six cautiously stepped out from her hiding spot and went to help Mono up.

The three of them looked over the ruins of the tower. The piles of flesh and eyes were slowly vanishing into static. Above them, the rain stopped, and the sun began to shine through the clouds over the Pale City for the first time in a long time.

The Thin Man looked down as his own body began to glitch with static. **“Huh. So the stable time-loop theory was correct.”**

“Wait, you’re vanishing?” Mono said in horror. “Don’t go!”

**“I accomplished my goals. And now, I don’t know what happens to me. But at least you get to live on.”**

Mono looked at his older self sadly. “Well… thanks for helping us.”

Six spoke up then. “Uh, I just wanted to say… I’m sorry for letting go of you. I don’t know why I did it, but I shouldn’t have.”

**“I forgive you.”** The Thin Man lifted his hat in goodbye. **“I guess this is it for me. Good luck to both of you.”**

Six and Mono waved goodbye as the Thin Man vanished in a burst of static. The world returned to normal speed.

The two children were left alone.

“So, now that that’s done, what should we do now?” Mono asked.

“Um, I hate to say this, but I think we shouldn’t travel together anymore.” Six said quietly.

“What? Why?”

Six was silent for a moment before she continued. “You saw the Thin Man’s memories. I dropped you on purpose there. I don’t know why I did, but I don’t want that to ever happen.”

“But it won’t! The Signal Tower is gone, so I won’t ever become the Thin Man!”

“It doesn’t matter. What if something like that happens in another place? What if I just abandon you at some point? I just think it’s best if we leave each other now.”

“...Okay. If that’s what you want.” Mono said.

“It’s nothing personal, it’s just that… I…” Six was at a loss for words, and then she ran up and hugged Mono.

“Six?!”

“I don’t want to hurt you… because you’re the only friend I’ve had in a really long time…”

Mono hugged her back.

After a few minutes of that, they began to discuss what they were going to do next.

“I think I’ll go back to the forest. With the Hunter gone it’s bound to be at least a little safer.” Mono said. 

“I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll go see what’s east of the city.” Six mused.

“Yeah… I guess we should get out of here before someone comes to see what happened to the tower.” Mono said.

They got up and looked at each other.

“Well, uh, it’s been fun travelling with you, Six.” Mono began. 

Six gave a little smile. “You too, Mono. Good luck out there.”

“Yeah. I hope we meet again someday.”

“Me too.”

The two children bade goodbye to each other and headed in opposite directions, each to a brighter future.


End file.
